Trump has said Comey assured him on three separate occasions that he was not a target of the Russia election influence probe.

I think this tweet gets at a key reason why Trump fired Comey. He was angry that Comey did not seem enthusiastic about investigating the leaks of classified information related to contacts between Trump advisors and Russian officials.

So far the only crime that has come to light from this Russia probe is the rampant and felonious leaking of classified information to the press. Mr. Trump and the GOP rightly see this as a major risk to national security. While the National Security Agency has been cooperating with the House Intelligence Committee and allowing lawmakers to review documents that might show the source of the leaks, Mr. Comey’s FBI has resolutely refused to do the same.

Why? The press reports that the FBI obtained a secret court order last summer to monitor Carter Page. It’s still unclear exactly under what circumstances the government was listening in on former Trump adviser Mike Flynn and the Russian ambassador, but the FBI was likely involved there, too. Meaning Mr. Comey’s agency is a prime possible source of the leaks.

In last week’s Senate hearing, Chairman Chuck Grassley pointed out the obvious: The entire top leadership of the FBI is suspect. “So how,” Mr. Grassley asked, “can the Justice Department guarantee the integrity of the investigations without designating an agency, other than the FBI, to gather the facts and eliminate senior FBI officials as suspects?” Mr. Comey didn’t provide much of an answer.

Trump’s tweet clearly indicates he thinks Comey is a leaker. It wasn’t just, as some are now saying, that Trump wanted loyalty from Comey. He didn’t trust his sanctimonious subordinate.

4 Responses to Trump Warns Comey Against Leaking Details of Their Conversations

Woodward’s and Burnstein’s “Deep Throat” has morphed into a chorus of whistle blowers the size of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Using all my Sherlockian powers, it seems that if the press reports on the FBI’s “secret court order to the FISA court” then the info must have come from the FBI.
The same deduction will apply to every “leak” from any agency or even the WhiteHouse.

At least we have been given a break from the demands to force MrTrump’s tax returns be made public. Small mercy, at best.

My take on Comey – he is protecting “his people” in the FBI, who were involved in leaking and other partisan Dem activities. I also think his friendship with the Clintons led him to the rationalization that he couldn’t disrupt the election by charging Clinton (the first woman, etc.) and thus to accept Clinton’s assurances of ignorance. Then when the Weiner batch of emails was found, Comey panicked because content could be bombshell. He ran to Congress to protect himself by keeping his word to inform them. The “wizardry” of the FBI that allowed them to get through days of emails in some hours is b.s. There is no wizardy — they did something like search for a phrase such as “leave the money in a satchel in the dead tree at 44th and E street.” When that didn’t turn up, they declared the emails clean.

Comey was weak — protected his people — we’ll find out who and why I hope — caved to Clintons. Another Clinton victim who let softness toward them lead to his own demise, I suspect.

You might be pretty close to what’s going on with Comey. My take on him is that he became completely politicized over the years, and that ultimately grew so problematic it disrupted the proper role of the FBI re Hillary and other issues. Comey created self-induced conflicting and untenable positions and public statements. He cooked his own goose. When some loud mouth pundits and political hacks in recent days declared that there was no morale problem in the FBI because of Comey’s behavior, they are lying. There were deep undercurrents of “What’s Comey up to now?” throughout the organization.